Hey all!

Fell asleep on the couch last night with my hand in the pouch.
Woke up and only little Athena was left with me. We had a great snuggle. She was even letting me roll her over and rub her belly! (In the pouch only—she’s a lot more timid outside the pouch.)

Got tons of stuff done yesterday. Three more tires swapped, and dropped off the final ones to be shuffled around.
Put casters on the coffee table so I can roll it around.
Stripped all the caulk off the sink so I could reseal it.
Then I remembered I had left my caulking gun in Dolan Springs with my old mining mentor, Wayne. Ok, so that’s paused until I run to town for a caulking gun.

Ok...so do everything in the bathroom sink...

Noooooo. Bathroom Sink is pouring water…into places water is not supposed to be. Going to need a whole new fixture. :-( I think I will MacGuyver this one for now. Old t-shirt and bucket method.
Discovered THAT as I repaired a major Glider-Hole.
(This stuff I cut off the bottom of the RV is awesome! It's called Coroton Plastic (sp). It's basically plastic corrugated cardboard. Cuts like butter, but won't tear. Blah blah...)

Glider Hole. Justin got something blue on him. Turns out it was toothpaste. (suppress stupid tooth brushing joke here)
But it got me looking again because he shouldn't have been able to get to the toothpaste. They had managed to pull away a plastic pipe chase in the back of the under-sink cabinet—and used THAT to get into the walls. From there he was able to follow the pipes into the underbelly and come up in the furnace…under the kitchen cabinets…in the pantry. Where ever they wanted. Even outside.

Justin also got into the computer area and managed to pee into the microphone jack again. (FACE, you little vandal! You already broke that!)

Starting a new hole-plugging sweep formally tomorrow.

Today I am going to sit on my butt, take all my best reality-inhibitors, eat ibuprofen like they were M&Ms, and try and keep this leg up. Starting to get a little worried.
It’s the worst blunt-force trauma I think I have ever had and still remained conscious. Looks a bit like a gunshot wound now. Can’t believe it didn’t break the leg. But it doesn’t hurt too bad and it hasn’t started to smell. It’s still coloring up…and it’s been a week now. Swelling and discoloration down past the ankle now and into the instep of the foot. Still no sensation on the inside of the calf from knee to ankle. Still swollen drum tight.
I want to slash this thing open with an exact-o knife or something…almost. I feel like a wuss. I once watched an old logger give himself 60 stitches in his own thigh (saw chain got him) with just a bottle of Wild Turkey.
I haven’t been good to the leg. It definitely responds to not being used…so I’m going to stay horizontal as much as I can.

Sidebar: Does anyone know of anything I can spray on my couch that is distasteful to gliders? Aria thinks the couch is delicious.  New video of that at http://www.twodogadventures.com

I will probably be spamming today. :-)

So do you think you might have really injured yourself bad enough for medical help? sounds like you have bruising and some pooling of blood in your leg?

Ok Dave,

Post a picture of the leg! Let the women access the damage. If it makes you feel better, I was a first responder for 4 years.

Kim,

I think we embarrassed him...

Hey guys...I got pics.
Just been really busy...much to report.
Will update soon.

Hurry up ComradeFluffyPants, the women are waiting to see some leg.

HAHAHA!
Ok...be careful what you ask for. It just got grosser...

Not sure how long I have been out. Gliders have me flipped again. I can't decide if this is unhealthy or not. I am not diurnal or nocturnal...I am....free flowing. Without a job or other obligations to force me to one or the other, day and night kinda lose meaning.
Anyway...
Now that the epic tire renewal is done, I am going into what I call "Poverty Lockdown" I do this when I am about to run out of money.
Basically I finish up any little projects I have hanging--prioritized by need. For instance...
THIS is how Daddy Tree says STOP PEEING ON MY ELECTRONICS! (HA!)

<SNIP>

Strong enough to hold up a set of shelves. Slides open for Daddy Tree access. Hold your applause please. :-)

Then I stock up on Dog Food, Glider Food and Condiments, toilet media, and fuel.
(Using the right condiments, even a plain bowl of rice and beans can have life. Please see the section "Twodog Eats" for more gross but effective culinary gems.)

Make sure there's enough in the bank to cover any little monthly auto-pays.

Ring in the new austerity cycle: Taco Bell and Video game binge, while trying to kill myself with ice cream. In this case, Tillamook's 'Udderly Chocolate' (holy crap!)

And I'm dug in for another two months--use that time to make more money.

Somewhere in all this, Mrs. Mouse was finally apprehended.


Since this was her first offense, she got off with a warning, and some peanut butter to go. Unless this is an all new mouse, I just displaced her 200 miles from her little mouse life in Dolan Springs. :-(

On the way back into camp, from these errands, I thought I would be clever, and pull off at a little dirt road we use to potty the dogs in, so I wouldn't have to walk them as soon as I got home.
And Charlie got into some cactus from HELL.
(It's a little-known fact, but 65% of the Mojave Desert actually sits over a portal to Hell. That is why everything here HATES you.)
I don't know what this stuff is, but it's evil. Strong, deep BARBED needles. And when it sticks, entire sections break off the cactus and adhere to the victim.
Can't even break the big clusters off without gloves. Fortunately, there was a sweatshirt someone had pitched out by the side of the road. Used that to break the big chunks off him.

Had to carry him back to the truck, roll him over on his back and start pulling out needles. They hurt just as bad coming out as going in--and you really had to PULL to get them out. Took hours to clear them all...and I got some too. Doped him up on Tramadol for the night.

So it's been really busy around here. And the leg has not been happy. By the end of the day it looks like a small Jabba the Hutt (exaggeration)

So, get horizontal and start chewing up Ibuprofen and get twisted on the new couch. (before it too becomes a pile of spitlings)
Ice cream reserves depleted. :-( Chip reserves depleted. No....chocolate? (start to shake)
Oh oh.
No delivery options.
Can't drive.
Not even a...vending machine.
Fortunately all of Peggy's dried fruit glider treats appear to be safe for human consumption. As are the yogies.
But Peggy--Your Happy Glider Fruity pellets only SMELL fruity. And your Chicken breeder Formula Nuggets do not taste like chicken--not even with milk.
Just sayin' (The kids still love 'em though)

Put the leg up and fell asleep

Woke up to Justin...eating it.
Yep.
Section of dead tissue in the center of the impact spot...at least I think it was dead tissue. I can't feel it so...
I'm...52% certain he would have stopped on his own.
Thanks for the thought, little buddy. Please wait 'til I'm dead for that. You hear that guys...you are welcome to the meat-suit, AFTER I'm done with it. Not before.

Now there's a hole in it about the size of a 9mm. Not too deep.
Grooming off dead tissue. Natural I guess.
But...YEECH. Weird thing to wake up to.

So here is yesterday...


And here's today...


The final components should land today from Amazon, and I should be able to finish my "Recirculating RV Doggy Play Spa" ("Long overdue!", interjects Chelsea)

The fallout from all this busy-ness is that the house is a poop-hole. Much cleaning and organizing needed. Hopefully by the time I am done with a big cleaning, this leg will be down enough that I can get my boots on. Can't dig gold in my slippers.

Ok...clean, organize, build...

Happy Glider-ing all!

Ok ComradeFluffyPants, if you are losing chunks of dead tissue it is time for you to see a doctor!

NOW! Before you get a systemic infection!

So hope your precious butt into the truck and head to town!

From someone trained for field care of war wounds... Kimberly is 100% correct. If you are reading this without a prescription, you are wrong! Get a move on!

Now let's not get all panicky and start throwing the D-word around. It's not like it was just sloughing off and going PLOP on the floor in the middle of a job interview.
It was chewed off.
This is over a week old, I'm sure it's not going to go septic on me.
You know...unless Justin just infected me with something. Overall it's getting better, not worse.
It will be fine.

I agree with all the above!

Your family needs you to be happy and healthy.

Go see a doc and I'll tell you all about jumping choya (spelled cholla). That's what you kids got into while out peeing.

Jumping Cholla!
That's all I needed...
"Margaret, please send out a detail of sex robots to collect a DNA stick of Jumping Cholla."
This evil must be cleansed from the earth...

Is this the cactus that pops truck tires? Or is that another species?

That would barrel cactus I think. Inians used the barbs as needles to sew leather

I have spent a lot of time in Tucson as a kid, and I have had a lot of experience with various cacti. The jumping cholla loves to hitch rides. You just have to stir the air near it and static electricity does the rest.

Dogs eventually learn to steer clear. Leather gloves and needle nose pliers get added to first aid box.

Oh and a wet paper towel to keep track of the barbs.

Welcome to the desert...

Well, can't twist your arm from here... but you will become CaptAhabFluffyPants if Justin chews it off... or it gets worse after protesting & not visiting docs as encouraged. I'm fairly certain the women-folk will concur. Fair warning.

Is it too late to call dibs on your colony if a vet decides you should just be put down?

Guys I appreciate the concern really.
I'm not one of these guys that refuses to go to the doctor. If I felt my life or limb was really in danger I would go to the emergency room or something.
But really, it's getting better, there's no smell and no discharge and minimal pain.

They'll have to kill me before I die! (apologies to Monte Python)

I just need this swelling to go down so I can get my boot back on. Snake season is game on, and I don't want to go gimping around in my slippers.

I agree with Karen, and leave it be.

But IF you do "will" your troop to Hutch, I will be more than happy to take care of them till he comes stateside and prys them from my dead cold fingers... Just sayin'...

If you die and I am going to dig you up and beat you to death!

Try rotating hot and cold compresses to the the swelling down.

Plantain if you can find this plant you can poultice your leg with it. It grows in my lawn in front of my apartment.

Still waiting for pictures.....

Oh...sorry...I edited the pics of the leg in above.

A Plantain poultice? With the fruit or the leaves? Like grocery-store plantain?

Everyone got locked up last night so I could sleep--without fear of waking up with a bigger hole in my leg. Or with the leg actually missing.
(A tiger in AFRICA!?)
Definitely making progress.
It's actually warm to the touch this morning.(good)
More sensation. (not good).

But even as I write this, from a sitting up, position I can feel it swelling and tightening up again.
The trick is going to be just staying off of it for a couple days. And actually staying off it--gotta have it elevated.

I don't mean to get all emotional here, but I am frustrated that this is not going to plan. I have been in this desert for months now, dodging snakes, cactus and tweakers, and only gotten 3 days of actual mining in.
And now this.
I don't have a problem going to the doctor, if needed, but just sitting here is something I have a hard time with.
BAH
Ok.
/rant off

The camera doesn't do it justice. Now I feel like a whiner.

No Doctors.
I am just going to crack this bottle of tequila and sharpen up this rusty spoon on the concrete next to the dumpsters...

OHHH that was good....rusty spoon....dumpster concrete...
(god, I slay me)
Ok I will look into it. No promises. Really, I know my body. It's been a 49 year study in self-loathing and abuse, but I know it well. I'm pretty sure this one is not life threatening.

(Ok...not a full 49 years...there was a period of a few years there in the middle, that it was pretty good. We are trying to get back to that. 40/110)

Medicaid from Colorado...let's hope for the best.

mnjgh

he z lyink
send yogyz

Twodog - If you're not going to get it checked out, at least let us know if you start craving brains. Delicious human brains...
I'll take Charlie and Chelsie and escape on the Ural.
Growman